Reading these two back to back has been an interesting comparison. In terms of Linklater’s published works these two fall exactly thirty years apart. “Poet’s Pub” was first published in 1929 while ‘The Merry Muse’ is from the very different world of 1959. Both hugely enjoyable reads though and both marked out by wonderful capturing of character. Both books contain a reasonably large cast of characters and among these casts are a number of characters who play small roles within the novels interacting with the central events and characters on a handful of occasions. Yet every character beautifully captured often in a very few words.
There are similarities between the two books – both involve missing manuscripts. In ‘Poet’s Pub’ the author Saturday Keith’s manuscript for his poem ‘Tellus Will Proceed’ as well as some missing plans and in ‘The Merry Muse’ some previously unknown obscene poems by Robert Burns.
If the later book has a heavier maturity of plot that’s only to be expected. ‘The Merry Muse’ also offers a fine developed portrait of an older man – lawyer Max Arbuthnot. ‘Poet’s Pub’ is wonderfully funny and lighthearted and contains one of my truly favourite characters – the barman Holly with his education obtained from the backs of cigarette cards.
Finally, ‘The Merry Muse’ was the second book I read within a week which quoted the song ‘John Anderson, my Jo’ – the other was ‘Dear Enemy’ by Jean Webster.
The Solitary Reader 